My goal of sub 4:00 1500-I will not stop until I reach my goal.

Just decided I'd check in and see how things were going for you guys.

Kept it low 30's for the past 2 weeks, nothing special. I was thinking of taking it up a bit but my foot problems (despite doing the gamut of strengthening exercises) continue to haunt me. Not as badly, but they're still there.

I went out today to do maybe 2x2 miles at 5:30 pace, just to do something a little hard for once. I was doing it on a trail so I wasn't quite sure of my pace - I ended up doing the first rep in 10:23, running the first mile in 4:56. Whoops.

While I was jogging around for rest, my IT band gradually clenched up to the point where running was just impossible. I'm hoping it's somewhat alleviated by tomorrow, but it looks like I'm going to need more time, as going up and down stairs is not really working too well right now. Argh. Sucks that the motivation is REALLY there right now and my body just is not. I may have altered my gait to accommodate my foot woes, so it looks like I'm going to be swimming for a while.

boingo, take a good deal of time off the running. cycle, swim, and so forth, but you need full health and good rest from your three seasons before you start building base for next spring. plenty of time. you're obviously in good shape still, but there's no target, so no reason to push.

ron, thanks, and excellent work on the track, particularly the 800s. you're not too far from a big breakthrough. you should be under five minutes in the mile in a race next month, if not sooner. I wasn't running 2:32 800s until quite a while into my comeback. also, nice pr for your 8 year old in the 400. my 11 year old nephew, a very good basketball player, could only manage a 1:47 this last time out, though he was tired and ran a bit faster last summer.

14.2 monday

21 tuesday

Finished my Kant book,sent it to press, ran 21M (13 pre practice). track w/o: 3x200, 3x(600 (200r)-400 (200r)-300 (300r))-n/t,35,37,1:46,70,51,1:43,68,51,1:43,69,51 (1:15-2:30r). 106M in last 7 days.

it wasn't the full rest 600s, but it was the fastest I've run for 600 since high school probably. did too much getting from pt A to pt B today. will try to take it easy the next few days to get ready for sunday's 1500m and 5000m. the workout was all at mile race pace and not exceedingly hard (I was really picking it up the last 100 or 200 on most of these, so taking it easy behind others for the first half or so of the intervals), so I am reasonably optimistic, if I am well-rested.

Hey, sorry I haven't been round - let me make up with a flurry of posts.

Jonesy, are you a philosopher or a historian, or both? Just out of interest.

Your training is suddenly making for very impressive reading. The race on sunday was a big step forward, and that crazy 21mile workout yesterday was very impressive - running 1:43 600s after a 13 mile run? Wow.

Ride the momentum -you're in for some big runs for the next while.

It's always been my experience that training goes this way - I run great for a while, then I have a few weeks where I'm just not firing on all cylinders, but the training is still money going into the bank. That's why, for whatever reasons (better rested, the moon in alignment with Jupiter, etc) when you start firing on all cylinders again, you can really reap the rewards, and seemingly make a big jump.

Ron, that's some good solid running - you're not far off 5 minutes if you can get close to 2:30 twice in training for 800m. I think jonesy is spot on regarding his advice.

Boingo - sorry to hear you're having difficulties. It may not be much consolation, but this is the best possible time for problems to crop up, and be taken care of - the rest and cross-training will stand to you when you're in your cross-country season!

As for me, comeback's still on track, but life is getting increasingly hectic. Getting the runs in here, there and everywhere, but starting to get worn down from lack of rest and not enough sleep. Work's been tough lately, I've been moving apartment, and I'm trying to get my act together for playing some music gigs (another hobby). So apologies for the lack of texting.

Last week:

Mon:AM 65min easy

PM 55min easy inc hill sprints, plyos.

Tue: 20min wu, 3x3lap H park hard, 2:30 recovery (12:38, 12:38, 12:31), 20min cd. Tough.

PM 6.25 mi treadmill.

Wed: AM 41:30 easy.

PM 1hr easy.

Thur: 21min wu, 7x4min 1x2min on grass, (1:15-1:20 jog recovery), 3min jog, 4x30sec fast 1:00 rest, 12min cd. Went well, ankle still a little iffy at these speeds, but good to be really moving.

PM: 48:30 easy inc.drill, hill sprints, then squats.

Fri: AM 50min v easy, core. Feel sore and tired.

PM 50min v easy.

Sat: OFF Too busy to run, but a day off is no harm as the ankle's been a little troublesome.

Sun: 2hrs03min (with the last ~55min uptempo).

PM 36min easy. Really needed this run, stressful day!

Good week, still some ankle issues at faster paces, but two good workouts, 1 medium one, lots of miles (~100/6days), core, strides, most everything I want in there!

Still hoping to get my feet wet at a 5k track race next wednesday, but I might have to postpone if things continue this busy. No big deal - I'm confident enough in how training's going that I don't need to see results immediately.

Besides which, I'm just loving the training at the moment - it's good to run, and it's even better to run fast!

sair, you're doing impressive volume. hard for me to judge the quality since you typically go by time or courses of unknown mileage for us, but I have to think that you are setting yourself up for a sub-15 minute 5k in the near future.

my 13 pre-practice yesterday was not all just before practice--5 w/jogging stroller in the early afternoon, then 3 more w/o stroller, re-tracing my steps until the baby fell asleep, trying to find her hat, then a half mile on the way to the upper west side, and then close to 5 miles immediately before practice.

easy 13.4 this evening, 9.5 at 7:08 pace.

but the track was very crowded, so I was often in lanes 2-4, and then back to 1, so probably could have run a few seconds faster.

Wow! You really are fit then. All the best luck at the weekend! Break some barriers.

thanks a lot. on the verge of getting sick, taking it easy the last 24 hours (just 1.6M w/stroller yesterday in lieu of planned off-day friday). should have gotten to bed earlier this week. finishing the book req'd the late nights, but then I should have gotten to bed early tuesday-wednesday. hopefully, i'll not get sick--avoided it the last time.

i'm a philosopher but apply the philosophy to history on some projects.

Here's my latest wild-man report:

Took yesterday off. Tonight went to track for intervals. 20min warm up. Did a 1600m solo time trial. The descent continues. Clocked a 5:09.24. Splits (72.xx,77.xx,79.xx,79.xx) Was real happy I kept them all below 80. Followed this up with 4x400 - 200m walk in between. 72,77,77,76 - 25 min cool down

Everybody posting is looking real good. Keep at it!

Signed up to do a 5k CC race Sunday morning. We'll see where I'm at there. Until then... lets hope everybody gets and stays healthy.

radical ron, nice tt and w/o. the 4x4 was very nearly the same pattern as the 1600--72/77 ..., suggesting obviously that you have sub-4:50 basic speed, but 5:10ish endurance. maybe some longer intervals and a tempo next week would even things out. you would stand a good chance of breaking 5 for the mile in a race right now. I think that 19 for the xc 5k is a good target for you; you could be under 6 minute pace (18:36), but xc is going to be slower.

Friday 15.2M 9.5M of it in CP in 67:23. but felt very tired. the cold is getting to me. I've slept a lot the past couple days and believe I'll take today off in hopes of being able to race tomorrow, but it looks like the races and my fitness will be wasted. I think I had a good 1500m pr in the offing, but it looks like it'll have to wait until next month, and then I'm unlikely to have good comp at the kind of local track races that are available, e.g. in Massachusetts or D.C.

Had a great morning. Turns out the 5K I did this morning was a trail run. The course was a mountain bike course they temporarily turned into a phenomenal trail run.

http://heartlandrace.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=88&Itemid=69

It was awesome. Big climb at first and lots of zig-zagging through the woods. Very difficult to get any speed going due to all the hair-pin turns. But the pedal was to the metal. By the time I got to the top of the hill my lungs were burning. We then aired it out for about half a mile in a field then back into the woods. During that time I was able to recover and get it going again. It was great. I know and can feel that all the training thus far is paying off. There's more gas in the tank when I need it. My times were 7:53,7:03,8:09 - total = 23:51. Winner took it in 20:xx. I came in 4th. 3rd in my age group.

Jonesy, thanks for the advice... I agree. I will do a 10mile tempo and probably some 1200m repeats this week. I'll be racing the 1500m next Sat. Looks like there's a guy registered who is running 4:20. So... there will be some competition.

Stay tuned...

Hope all is well.

Look after yourself Jonesy - you've been training hard, and if you've been finishing a book then it's likely you've been working long and late hours - listen to your body and maybe take it easy on yourself for a few days!

Well done on the race Ron and may the comeback continue. If I were you I might cut the tempo down to 6-8. 10 miles means over 65 minutes of hard running at your current level of fitness, which is a lot. I've personally found that it's only recently that I've really been fit enough to get the best out of 10 mile tempo type runs - I feel they may be a bit too severe up until a certain level of fitness, too difficult to maintain good form/intensity, etc. But that's only my opinion, I'd be curious what others think.

sair, I agree with you on ron's tempo. early in his training cycle, he's ready for 20-30 minute tempos at most, it seems to me. Canova's athletes start with a 12 or 13 minute tempo and build up the time, mainaining the pace. But that race sounds like a good effort and a confidence builder for you, ron. excellent job. I look forward to seeing how your race goes this week.

sair, I was too sick to race anything good, so I slept in and ran 15 later, 11 at 7:15 pace. I took off Saturday and did only 1.5 on Thursday, with 15 on Friday, 9.5 at 7:08 pace. I am well into the illness now, really tired and constantly dehydrated but no other symptoms. your 5k is coming up in a few days, right?

81 for the week in 5 days plus the 1.5M day. great workout Tuesday and a huge, blown opportunity for some nice pr's on Sunday. easy to forget that sleep is key when you've been pushing yourself for a while.

Hi Sair and Jonesy... thanks for the comments. Want to make sure I understand tempo runs correctly. I googled: "How to run a tempo run"

A classic tempo or lactate-threshold run is a sustained, comfortably hard effort for two to four miles.

GOAL: 5-K to 10-K Run three easy miles, followed by two repeats of two miles at 10-K pace or one mile at 5-K pace. Recover with one mile easy between repeats. Do a two-mile easy cooldown for a total of eight or 10 miles.

When I said 10mile tempo, the above is what I meant to do. Sorry for the confusion. In any event, I'll be running comfortably hard for at the most 20-25 minutes. I'll have 25 min warmup and about that much for the cooldown. Should make for 10 miles.

Jonesy, hang in there and listen to your body. You know what you're doing.

Thanks fellas!

Unfortunately looks like the race is out. Turns out it's not on until 8pm, and I'm playing a gig 9pm a distance away, so it's not feasible. I'm frustrated, because training's taken a downturn recently, and I could use a good run to restore flagging motivation.

I was going great until friday - great workouts tuesday and thursday (tuesday was just about keeping up with our new 3:49 1500m guy, who did 3:51 at the weekend - though he did one more 1k rep than I did). Thursday I was running away from my friend who's an 8:32 3k guy also coming back from injury. But saturday I was miles behind those guys, and the workout was quite poor. I've been a bit off form ever since.

It might be the workload is too much (combined with life in general!), or might just be temporary. If I don't come good in the next day or two, I'm going to ease off for a few days, and then either time trial or find any sort of race, see where I'm at. Next proper race on the schedule was a 3k saturday week/wednesday 2 weeks (2 3ks, I was just going to pick the most convenient). I'll post last week's training tomorrow.

that's good company to be running with and training as you know cycles. you were in a good zone, then in a bad one. maybe take a day off or dial down the intensity for a day or two, and boom, it'll be back. nice to have a place with evening meets.

2x2M repeats at 10k pace, with a long recovery and easy w/u and c/d, is a good workout. tempo (the length from 3-10 miles usually) is usually understood as 1 hour race pace or maybe 15-20 seconds per mile slower than race pace.

Just curious... what happened to the OP? Did he stop before he reached his goal?

Haven't followed the whole thread, but I don't see eddylee in the last couple of pages.

Why on earth are you running 15 miles when you're sick? And they wonder why runners don't run to their potential... nuts. Really think that's helping your body and the best for it?